In African politics, the rampant belief in witchcraft fortifies some and vexes others

Boston Globe

16-07-2025

In public, political contests often entail spectacles where rivals rent cars to mount raucous processions in the streets, offering cash and other inducements to voters. Behind the scenes, the struggle for victory can be intensely spiritual, with faith figuring in incidents ranging from ritual sacrifice to visits with traditional healers, according to Watira and others who spoke to The Associated Press.
Watira, a leader of a group uniting Uganda's Bamasaba people, said the incumbent legislator who refused to shake his hand may have worried that it would somehow give Watira the upper hand or provoke misfortune. Watira said he wasn't surprised by the man's behavior.
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'The moment your mind is pushed to that level, everything which happens you will always be suspicious,' he said, speaking of overcoming his own fear of witchcraft. 'You will start imagining, and that is the biggest challenge in our society.'
Spiritual warfare among politicians is part of a wider struggle over faith in Uganda, where Christianity is the dominant religion. Many who regularly attend church also secretly visit traditional shrines for the occult service they believe can lead them to victory.
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The syncretism has long confounded church leaders who teach that Christianity is incompatible with any vestiges of traditional religion, which remains widely practiced across sub-Saharan Africa.
In African politics, often marked by bitter feuds along class and ethnic lines, fear of witchcraft can prove explosive.
In South Sudan, Vice President Riek Machar believes himself to be the left-handed man with gapped teeth prophesied by a tribal seer a century ago as the unifying leader of his nation. There's widespread belief that the superstition fuels Machar's quest for power in South Sudan, which has been wracked by war since independence in 2011 as Machar tried to remove President Salva Kiir.
In Kenya, some of the antigovernment protesters who gathered last month in the capital, Nairobi, said the disorientation they felt while nearing the presidential residence was likely an evil spell in favor of President William Ruto. He also faces criticism for building a church within the statehouse compound that some critics see as an ominous shrine.
In Zambia, two men are on trial for allegedly practicing witchcraft and possessing charms intended to harm President Hakainde Hichilema. Hichilema himself once was accused of practicing witchcraft by his predecessor Michael Sata, who contended the charms from his home region were stronger.
In Uganda's capital, Kampala, and other cities, some street poles are plastered with notices by people promising to magically catch thieves or regain lost lovers. Now, many also advertise authority to secure politicians' victory in elections set for January 2026.
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'Across all Ugandan communities there is a crazy reliance on the witch doctors, crazy reliance by politicians,' said Steven Masiga, a researcher and cultural leader in the city of Mbale. 'Witch doctors now are reaping money from politicians. Now, as politicians mobilize money, there is a percentage for the witch doctor because the real hope is in the witch doctor.'
Many candidates feel that 'voters can oscillate around but the witch doctors never let you down,' he said.
Masiga cited a politician in his area who, years ago, urged on by a witch doctor, skinned a goat alive without slaughtering the animal. The witch doctor's client won the election.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, in power for four decades and a candidate for reelection, has previously expressed his respect for African witch doctors, an often pejorative term referring to medicine men and women who prescribe herbs for ailments and others who claim to erase problems by magic. Some of these practitioners prefer to be described as traditional healers.
In a speech last year, Museveni recalled jumping over a slaughtered chicken three times in the ritual he performed as the leader of the bush war that propelled him to power in 1986. Museveni said of traditional religion that 'it is very strong' and urged mainstream religious leaders not to antagonize its practitioners.
'We had a very good relationship with them,' he said of traditional healers.
Many Ugandan politicians are believed to retain the services of witch doctors, but they rarely admit it in public to avoid ridicule. Some national leaders have been seen entering witch doctors' shrines over the years, drawing criticism from church leaders who condemn such behavior.
In 2016, parliamentary speaker Rebecca Kadaga was photographed entering a shrine associated with her clan in eastern Uganda. The Anglican archbishop issued a rebuke; Kadaga, who has since left the speakership, said she sought to inform her ancestors of her political success.
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'Who doesn't have an origin? Who doesn't have where they came from? Those are my roots,' she told reporters.